MCEN

2024: Materials Science

Fall 2014

Homework Assignment #8

Questions on Failure

(Due Monday, December 1st at the start of class)

1. A specimen of 4340 steel alloy having a plane strain fracture toughness of 45 MPa
m is exposed to a stress of 1000 MPa.

a) What is the composition of 4340 steel alloy?
b) Will this specimen experience fracture if the largest surface crack is 0.75 mm
long? Why or why not? Assume that the parameter Y has a value of 1.0.

2. a) Calculate the maximum internal crack length allowable for a 7075-T651
aluminum alloy component that is loaded to a stress one-half its yield strength.
Assume that the value of Y is 1.35.

b) What is the composition of a 7075-T651 aluminum alloy?

3. The tensile strength of brittle materials may be determined using a variation of

1

!a$2
m = 2 0 # &
" t %

Compute the critical crack tip radius for an Al2O3 specimen that experiences tensile
fracture at an applied stress of 275 MPa. Assume a critical surface crack length of
2x10-3 mm and a theoretical fracture strength of E/10, where E is the modulus of
elasticity.

4. The following tabulated data were gathered from a series of Charpy impact tests on
a tempered 4140 steel alloy.

a) What is the difference between 4140 and 4340 steel alloys?

MCEN 2024: Materials Science

Fall 2014

b) Plot the data as impact energy vs. temperature.
c) Determine a ductile-to-brittle transition temperature as the temperature
corresponding to the average of the maximum and minimum impact energies.
d) Determine a ductile-to-brittle transition temperature as the temperature at
which the impact energy is 70 J.

5. The fatigue data for a ductile cast iron are given as follows:

a)
b)
c)
d)

Make an S-N plot (stress amplitude vs. logarithm of cycles to failure) using these
data.
What is the fatigue limit for this alloy?
Determine fatigue lifetimes at stress amplitudes of 230 MPa and 175 MPa.
Estimate fatigue strengths at 2x105 and 6x106 cycles.